US gun lobby wants 'armed officers in every school'

The protest started the moment the US gun lobby spoke out. “NRA killing our kids” read the large pink banner unfurled at the press conference. The demonstrator was quickly led away by security guards.

The National Rifle Association, staunch defender of the right to bear arms, was giving its first considered response to the issue of gun security, following last week’s rampage in Connecticut.

It is now calling for armed guards in every school to help prevent more massacres of children.

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate what ever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation, and to do it now, to make sure that blanket safety is in place when our kids return to school in January,” said the NRA’s Executive Vice-President Wayne Lapierre.

The largest US gun rights lobby also wants a national database of the mentally ill and has blamed video games for promoting murder.

The NRA has been under intense scrutiny, and had said little since the atrocity until now, citing respect for “common decency”.

Almost simultaneously, reports began coming in of another mass shooting, with four people dead and three injured in Pennsylvania.